RAF Apprenticeships Graded 'Outstanding' By Ofsted
 

It's nice to show the value of the training we give youngsters on joining the Light Blue. This was published by Ofsted yesterday - for comparison, the Army were inspected in 2013 and were graded 'Good'


Ofsted | Ministry of Defence (RAF)

Still not even near close to the proper apprenticeships we used to deliver at No1 School of Technical Training at RAF Halton. I wonder what grade Ofsted would have awarded for that? "Exceptional"?

LJ :cool:

:ok: Almost as good as the ones at Locking!

IMO, the whole package of training and careers in the RAF was the very best, until the early '80's. I am glad to hear that an element has risen from the ashes. However, I suspect that the overall picture is far less than rosy.:sad:

OAP

Ofsted is a significant part of the problem with UK education.
Passing their inspections means you can jump through hoops; and because of the effort needed to jump through those hoops, student learning is not the top priority.

Modern Apprenticeship = Excuse to employ someone on the cheap. Maybe the employer receives a Government grant for every bod they sign on.

Some apprenticeships are not worth the weight of the card its printed on. I.E, not worth anything in civvy industry, certainly doesn't make you a licensed engineer. If you wanted to progress and study a BEng at university and they asked what qualifications you have and you were to turn around and say "NVQ level 2 in kicking tyres and topping up the engine oil" would they let you in? I seriously doubt it will meet the entry requirements, if recognised at all.

God, you lot are a miserable bunch!

Well done to all those involved, especially at the JNCO and SNCO instructor level where it all really takes place - a fantastic result!

Fox3 said:

I couldn't agree more!

Education now in the UK is about hitting targets instead of educating young people about things that will benefit them throughout their working lives. What happened to employing teaching staff who are suitably qualified in the subject they teach? I am not specifically referring to HMF here, but the education system as a whole.

I am, however, pleased that the RAF is setting the example, even if that example is a modern one. :)

JAJM

Since I believe Fox3 now teaches for a living, I would be inclined to give his opinion of Ofsted more weight.

It also sounds a bit like the scenario a few years ago regarding the RAF and Investors in People, where selected individuals were taken aside at station level and trained/groomed to provide the visiting IIP inspectors the "correct" answer, rather than make any significant changes to fundamental procedures/institutions - the result? IIP accreditation achieved, but was that an accurate reflection of the organization?

Be that as it may, the fact that the RAF has resumed modern apprenticeship training, and by any measure seems to be doing it rather well, should be celebrated. OK - the RAF is not going to return to the Super-tech of 40 years ago. Get over it!

Countered by his obvious predilection for not knocking everything going on in the UK now that he has moved elsewhere!

S-D

1. I'm not alone. In the UK, only 2/3 of the teachers in state schools have a degree in my subject (physics). Golden Hellos of £25k are on offer and last year's uptake was 67% of target. I was not the only teacher to emigrate that year from my department of 7.
2. Canada has no equivalent of Ofsted. Education is done provincially, and my province has no provincial inspection system. There's a lot wrong with Canadian education, with about the same percentage of bad teachers as the UK, but at least nobody is wasting their time chasing Government paperwork and inspections, which is probably why Canada is well ahead of the UK in the PISA results.
3.The last time I was involved in preparations for an Ofsted Inspection was 2013, plus advising a colleague on ISI inspections 2 months ago.

Biggus - completely agree about IIP. In principle, there's nothing wrong with either IIP, Ofsted, or ISO 900x (which I have also worked in preparing for). However, in practice:
a) It is perfectly possible for crap organisations with terrible management to get accredited by getting the paperwork done, then ignoring all of it until the next inspection/re-accreditation. I speak from experience.
b) As a bureaucracy, the accreditation agency/Inspection authority has a vested interest in the process, but absolutely no responsibility for the outcome*, and no competition. The long term result is process over product every time.
c) The quality of the average Ofsted inspector is awful. Independent Schools in the UK are inspected by ISI. Their inspectors are serving senior teachers who take a week out to go inspect another school. I have had 5 as colleagues, and they were uniformly excellent. So, the UK has an easy fix for Ofsted; sack the lot of them and copy ISI. It won't happen though, because ISI is independent of Government, and the politicians hate that.

For the military, I don't see what was wrong with the system when I left it in 1993. Bloody excellent, I use stuff I learned in the RAF instructor system every day.
*In the RAF, if I as a Standards Officer failed another instructor, I had to design and teach the retraining course, and was held responsible for the instructor's re-pass. Ofsted just slag-off-and-leave.

Exactly so Fox3.

As an Irish farmer once said to me on a similar subject:

"You don't make a pig any fatter by weighing it more often!"

:D:D I used that very phrase with a very senior DfE (not Ofsted) Inspector not 2 years ago. He laughed like a drain, then shook his head sadly. I think he's retired now.

Are we down skilling now then?
 

http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/archive/o...ward-21012015:

Bad enough letting fairies into TG1 it appears we are now letting TG3 and beyond work on aircraft :ugh:

Trades
 

What aircraft trades are there now in the RAF?I mean there used to be airframe engine and inst /elect mechs as well as the J/T fitters .How are things done now on the first line servicing side?

oldpax,

https://www.raf.mod.uk/recruitment/r...d-engineering/



As an aside, I note from the OP's link that the last similar inspection was 6 years ago - hardly seems like the pig is being weighed too often!

Ofsted reports should be taken with a pinch of salt. For the most part, the audit process is predominantly 'end based' and doesn't focus enough on the journey for the apprentice or learner. There is some evidence that this is changing but not before time.

It is however, good to know that things are improving, when the first Modern Apprenticeship schemes started around 1998 the RAF probably delivered the worst apprenticeship in the country. Apprentices arrived on squadrons and NCOs didn't have a clue how their training was to be administered and accredited. It was shocking to say the least.

The Eng Tech A/P apprenticeship of old (and its Cosford equivalent) was probably the best training possible for an engineer in the RAF and yet to be beaten. They should never have scrapped it.

Up to 1969/1970, the RAF had an apprentice scheme to produce 5-trade [airframe/propulsion/electrical/air comms/air radar] "super-techs". Following a 5-year course, they graduated as a cpl and were boarded for promotion to sgt every 6 months whilst undergoing "improver training" on units. Some achieved chf tech in their late-20s/early-30s and were great "force multipliers" for the high intensity operations conducted on fast-jet sqns in the late-1970s to late-1980s, being particularly suited as the exercise/evaluation mobile "eyes and ears" / crew-in snag go/no-go advisors for engineering C2 personnel in the hardened Sqn Ops Facility and being of great utility on detachment recce teams (reducing numbers).

I have great sympathy for those who have to manage the current environment at 1st-line.

They also used to train a few up as 'split brains' - two trades plus the ability to operate the back cockpit as a pax. They were very useful for taking abroad to fix snagged jets to get them home, rather than having to send out a full team slowly.

Although having the nav kit/computers dump just after takeoff into harry doggers weather over, say, Belgium was not my idea of fun, and happened more than once. Nevertheless, flying head down and thumbing along a chart came back to me reasonably quickly, whilst twiddling with VORs & reading En Route Supp.s is of course why the RAF recruits pilots with 3 hands and two pairs of eyes.;)
At least they managed to fix the jet every time.